A candlestick telephone and an ancient typewriter face a huge, clunky dinosaur of a machine.
The machine, a microfilm reader from the 1950s, holds a plaque inscribed with some of the earliest thoughts on Wilson Library, where an exhibit celebrating the library's 75th anniversary will remain until Feb. 13.
"It is touched and ennobled by the dreams and sacrifice and devotion of a very great man - Dr. Louis R. Wilson - and represents the culmination of an aspiration on the part of our people," said former N.C. Gov. O. Max Gardner at the building's dedication ceremony, which took place Oct. 19, 1929.
The exhibit, housed in the North Carolina Collection Gallery, features photographs, explanations of different stages in the history of the library and library artifacts. Its use of both text and images makes the information interesting and highly accessible, said Harry McKown, reference associate in the North Carolina Collection.
"You can learn an amazing amount in a short period of time," he said. "And it's visual, so it sticks with you."
So, many say, does the library. Seventy-five years after Gardner spoke his famous words, University Librarian Emeritus Joe Hewitt echoed his sentiments.
When the library was built in 1929, it was the physical symbol of the ambition of the University to become a modern university," he said. "... Wilson is a landmark building on campus, like the Old Well."
Faculty and students originally knew the building simply as The Library until it was formally renamed in honor of Wilson in 1956.
"For many generations of students, it was the main library," said Larry Alford, deputy university librarian. "They worked, studied, even met future spouses there."
